The words hit her like a punch to the gut. Alice opened her mouth, but the retort she planned died on her lips.
“I understand how angry you must be.” Marco’s voice became softer as he took a step toward her. “How you just want to do something, anything, to make Phantasm pay for what was done to Logan. But this can’t be about vengeance or your ego. It has to be about something bigger or it’ll eat away at you.”
“Maybe wait until tomorrow, so we can come up with a plan and no one else gets hurt,” Lionel said. “Besides, we aren’t even sure if it is Victoria.”
“I am,” Alice said.
“If Douglas didn’t give you anything, then what are you planning to do?” Marco asked.
“The Science Foundation. There could be underground facilities that are complete. I think it’s her plan to use the Science Foundation as her own private enhancement lab. And if it’s not there now, then maybe it’s in her house—”
“You’re planning on breaking into her house?” Lionel asked.
“It’s worth a try!”
“Not tonight it isn’t,” Marco said. “You aren’t thinking clearly.”
Alice walked a few feet away from him, her body humming with frustration. She knew, somewhere behind the anger coursing through her mind, that Marco and Lionel were right. She needed to cool off a little, think things through.
But the more she paced, the more silent the voice of reason became, until the only thing she could think about was crippling Phantasm.
If they don’t want to go with me, that’s fine! I can do this myself. But I can’t have them interfering…
Alice hated lies, especially when it had to do with the people she loved most. But in this moment, it seemed the only way she’d be able to do this.
“You’re right,” she whispered, hoping they couldn’t hear what she was hiding. “I’m going back to the loft.”
“I can come with you-,” Lionel said.
“No, I think I want to be alone.”
Lionel nodded. “We’ll be there early tomorrow and we will all figure this out together. I promise.”
Alice nodded, moving away from Lionel as he reached out for a hug.
“See you tomorrow?” Marco asked, a hint of suspicion in his tone.
“Yep,” Alice said, as she practically ran down the hall.
She felt shame and guilt try to rise up within her, but they were quickly quenched. She couldn’t be weak now. She’d been weak since this all started, if she gave in now—
“I can do this,” she said to herself. “I can.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
When Alice had stood in front of the construction site for The Science Foundation just a few days ago, she had felt nothing but admiration for the people who’d envisioned such a place. Now, however, she saw Phantasm and all the destruction she had already done and could do in the future.
Alice sat on the roof of an apartment building across from the construction site, trying to be patient as she looked for anyone suspicious.
The only things she’d seen in a half-hour was one couple that stopped to neck under a broken street lamp and two women complaining about how long it was taking them to find husbands. In the distance, she could hear the gentle slap of water against the pier, and the occasional hum of a boat as it glided toward the harbor. When the wind was just right, Alice could smell the salty tang of the water. Somewhere, someone had their window open and the soft strains of jazz from a radio filtered out into the night.
All of this, however, registered on the periphery of her thoughts. The longer she watched The Science Foundation, the more something itched at the back of her mind, something she wasn’t seeing.
Alice frowned and looked up and down the street.
At each end, the street lamps shone in a bright yellow, illuminating the few pedestrians and cars that were out at this late hour.
When Alice looked back at The Science Foundation, she realized that the lamps all around it were either broken or barely lit.
She was about to climb down when a black car came down the narrow side alley between the Science Foundation and a women’s boutique. Alice swore she heard a car door slam shut, and the car never emerged from the alley.
Quickly climbing down the fire escape and keeping to the shadows, she crossed to the alley where the car had disappeared into.
The alley was paved with bricks instead of asphalt, obviously a remnant of a street from the early days of Jet City. Alice knew that within a few yards the old street sloped down to the water, but she could barely see that far. She kept her back to the boutique’s wall, but that quickly ran out.
Taking a chance on being exposed, she ran on silent feet down to the alley’s dead end. In front of her was the built-up foundation of the Science Foundation, metal beams dwarfing her. She could barely make out the outline of a door, where two metallic pad locks glistened in the dark. Something square and small sat just above the door handle. It was obvious not just anyone was welcome to wherever the door led. In front of the door was the black car, but it wasn’t running, and there was no sign that anyone was in it.
Alice’s pulse was pounding in her ears. She’d never been out on her own for a mission. The danger of it gave her a heady mix of fear and adrenaline.
As she began to dart across the street, heading for the door, it opened, spilling muted light out onto the dark alley. She ducked behind the car, measuring her breath so whoever it was wouldn’t hear her. Alice smelled a lit cigarette and saw the puff of smoke moments later. Huge feet shuffled on the brick ground.
As she crouched behind the car, Alice began to weigh her options.
Behind that door was what she needed, she was sure of it. And this was only one man. She’d taken on many more than that by herself.
What if this one is enhanced?
The thought did give her some pause, but she had plenty of Serpent bites and her batons were at the ready.
I can do this. I can end this tonight.
She was just about to circle around the car when strong arms surprised Alice from behind, holding her in an iron-like band.
“You are a meddlesome little snake.”
Alice knew that voice.
It was Baritone.
He picked her up, squeezing her ribs.
Alice kicked, trying to find his knee caps, but never managed to do more than graze him.
“I wish I could take you in there.” His breath was hot on her cheeks and smelled of cheap cigarettes. “See you on the table, unable to squirm or fight. Watch the boss unmake you.”
She felt sick at the obvious pleasure he’d taken in seeing others tortured in this way, and began to be afraid of it happening to her.
“But, I’ll just have to settle for something else,” he said.
The door opened again, and three more men came out.
“Boss needs you,” said the first one, smiling when he saw Alice. “What’cha got there?”
Baritone grunted. “You three think you can take care of this one?”
They stepped out, cracking knuckles and laughing.
“Oh, I think we can make short work of it,” said a man with deep pock marks on his face.
“Maybe we can play first?” said a thin man, pulling a knife out of his pocket.
Baritone laughed as he slammed Alice onto the car’s trunk, sending pain through her ribs and knocking some of the wind out of her.
“Just don’t let her get away or get in there, understand?”
They nodded.
Baritone brought his face down to hers.
“I’ll be right back. Don’t die too fast.”
The three goons formed a semi-circle around her as she pushed herself up on the smooth trunk of the car.
They were all taller than her, and even the thinner one was broader than she was. In the struggle with Baritone she’d lost one of her batons, but she still had the other, so she drew it as she stood.
I need an advantage…height.
S
he backed up and onto the top of the car, towering over the three men now.
Pockmark laughed. “You think you have a chance, do you, lovely?”
The third man, who’d been silent the whole time, dark eyes studying her, said, “You two don’t know who that is, do you?”
He’ll be the tough one. The other two are too confident.
Knife-guy laughed. “Don’t care.”
When Knife-guy lunged for her, Alice jumped up and forward, launching herself off the car and behind him. Her foot slipped on the rough bricks and she fell to one knee. But it didn’t matter, none of the men had expected that.
Pockmark was the first to turn around. She leapt to her feet and hit him across the face with a baton, and then a roundhouse to the head. He stumbled and fell, blood streaming from his mouth.
Knife-guy lunged for her and she dodged, grabbing his arm, then twisting his wrist. She felt his tendons pop under her fingers, as his screech of pain echoed through the night. She smiled as a dark thrill shot through her. She could obliterate them, make them bleed and break for under-estimating her.
Something hit her from behind and she stumbled forward onto her hands and knees.
“You bitch!” screamed Pockmark, his chin red with blood.
He slammed a pipe down onto her back and Alice hissed in pain, but before it came down again, she rolled out of the way, the clang of the pipe hitting the bricks loud in her ears. As Pockmark raised the pipe up for another attack, Alice swiped his legs out from under him, then brought the heel of her boot down onto his chest. Pockmark’s ribs cracked under the force of the blow.
Alice stood up and, for an instant, wondered if she’d gone too far, as the man struggled to take painful gasps of air. But then a flash of steel flew by her head, missing it by inches.
Any concern about her losing control evaporated.
Knife-guy threw another knife at her, which she ducked down to avoid.
“I can do this all night, sweetheart.”
“Wouldn’t want to keep you up,” she said.
Alice shot a serpent bite, hitting Knife-guy in the shoulder. He groaned, took two steps toward her, and then collapsed. Alice gave barely a thought to the possibility that he may have fallen on his own knife.
Especially when she heard slow clapping coming from behind her.
“Very nice,” said the third man.
He’d been standing by basement door, watching the fight. His smirk was uncaring to the point of amusement, as if he knew something she did not.
“I hoped it would be just the two of us. I have a real love for strong-willed women. They’re such fun to tear apart,” he said, taking a few, slow steps toward her.
Alice took in his tall, barrel-chested body.
Something was familiar...
Then, he drew a huge knife.
Memories hit her with lightning speed. This man, plunging a knife into Aunt Diana, the knife wet with her blood.
Fury choked Alice, building behind her throat and eyes until she felt consumed with it. Jamison, Percy, and Phantasm may have ordered her aunt’s death, but this man had actually done it.
With a scream, Alice ran toward him, jumping onto the trunk of the car and launching herself at him. Her baton connected with his face and the two of them fell to the ground.
Alice rolled on the filthy bricks and jumped up as the man clutched his nose.
“Serpent has a bite, has she?”
An actual snarl rose up in her throat and she bared her teeth to him. The voice in her mind that could hold her back, remind her of the boundaries she’d placed on being a hero, was silent.
The man was faster than she would’ve given him credit for, as his foot connected with her mid-section, throwing her off balance, pain blossoming in her stomach. He then feinted a lunge with his knife and spun around her.
Alice remembered with sickening clarity when he’d done this to her aunt, a scream rising to her throat.
She would not be so easily defeated.
Before he could plunge the knife in, she stepped to the side and elbowed his solar plexus. The air left him in a rush. She went to drive her foot into his knee, but he dodged and punched her across the face. Pain exploded in her cheek and eye.
The knife came toward Alice’s chest in a gleaming arc and she raised her gauntleted arms, barely managing to block it.
The voice in Alice’s head told her to shoot a serpent bite and be done with it, but vengeance would not be satisfied by such an easy escape.
Opening her mouth wide, Alice bit into the fleshy hand still trying to drive the knife down and into her. The man screamed as her teeth tore into his skin and muscle, blood trickled warm and coppery between her teeth. He let her go and tried to backhand her, but Alice ducked and landed a solid punch to his kidneys, followed by another to his stomach. Then, crouching low, she swept her leg at his, knocking him down.
She was about to pin him when he rolled away and stumbled to his feet. With clumsy steps, the man ran up the hill toward the main street.
You’re not getting away this time!
She picked up the baton nearest her and ran after him.
His legs were long, if she didn’t move fast, he’d make it to the street, and from there he might be able to flag down a police officer or someone else to help him. Closing the distance in a furious burst of speed, Alice threw the baton at the man’s head. It connected with a loud crack and he collapsed.
He was on his hands and knees when Alice caught up to him. She kicked him in the stomach twice before he fell to the bricks.
Turning him over, she straddled him high on his chest.
He swung the knife up, trying to catch her by surprise. She caught his wrist and twisted, dislocating it. As the knife fell from his limp fingers, Alice picked it up.
“You stabbed someone I loved with this,” she said, tears burning unshed behind her eyes.
He opened his mouth to speak, but it was cut off by a cry of pain as Alice thrust the knife into his shoulder.
“You took her away!”
She took the knife out and plunged it into the other shoulder.
“And then you got to keep living.”
She punched him in the face, blood from his already broken nose spurting warm on her gloved hand.
“But she’s in the ground!”
Another punch to his face.
She knew she was looking at the man who’d killed Aunt Diana, but Alice could swear she also saw the man who’d shot her mother, and the man who’d carved up Uncle Logan. As she yelled with each punch, her voice became foreign to her ears and it began to feel as if she were looking at herself from a distance.
This is wrong, you must stop.
Two more punches. A third. A fourth.
The man’s mouth and cheeks were now covered in blood and contusions.
Still, she kept hitting him.
Alice stop.
Another punch, a gurgling sound rising from his mouth.
Stop!
“No!”
She looked up, mouth gaping open, spittle on her lips and moisture on her face, but whether it was blood or tears, or both, she didn’t know.
The expression on her face must’ve been truly terrible, because the couple that had the unfortunate timing of walking by in that moment stared at her with terror.
“Please,” the man said. “Just...here.”
He threw his wallet at her, and the woman hid her face in his shoulder.
“Please, we-we didn’t see anything, just...don’t hurt us.”
Alice was confused at first.
Why would she hurt them? Why would they even think that?
Then the man under her coughed, a wet, desperate sound.
And that’s when Alice saw what she’d done.
His face, if you wanted to call it that, was a mass of blood and swollen tissue. His eyes were shut, his nose looked crushed and his mouth was a gaping red hole.
Alice stumbled off him, her body shaking so badly s
he couldn’t stand.
The couple ran away, the woman’s cries of fear echoing in Alice’s ears.
It was a warm night, but Alice started to shiver as what she’d done slammed into her mind.
You must get out of here, before Baritone comes back.
Alice felt the dam begin to break inside, the tears threatening to overwhelm her. If she let that happen, she wouldn’t move from this spot for a very long time.
The sound of a door opening somewhere was enough to force Alice to her feet. Even if it wasn’t Baritone, if she was found with this man...
Maybe I deserve it.
Alice shook her head. Maybe she did, but now wasn’t the time. She had to get somewhere safe.
But I don’t want to be alone.
Voices began echoing down the street. Whoever it was, they would find her in moments.
“Get up...just...get up.”
Her legs shook so much that she had to lean against a trash can for support. Half stumbling across the street she went down the wrong alley twice before finding the Black Lightning. She sat on it for a few minutes, trying to steady herself before starting the engine. The first few minutes on the Lightning she had a hard time keeping her balance, but as she rode down the practically deserted street, Alice forced herself to concentrate. Soon she was able to control the Lightning enough put on some speed.
As her adrenaline sank beneath the weight of her guilt, the wounds she’d received made her body ache and throb. She wanted to be anywhere but out in the open, where someone might see her and know what she’d done.
I don’t want to go to the loft, but where else…? Mrs. Frost. She said she if I ever needed to, I could go to her house…but what do I say when she sees me? What will she think of me?
But there was nowhere else she could think of, and in the end, Alice turned the Lightning toward the hill where Mrs. Frost’s mansion sat.
Alice stashed the Lightning behind a wide shed on the back of Mrs. Frost’s property. The sliver of moon gave off just enough light to make her way to the old storm-cellar door that led to one of the secret passages. The few times Alice had used this entrance it was sunny and she’d had a flashlight to navigate the winding, under ground passage. But now, when she opened the door, the passage was pitch black.
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